ParalympicsGB search for talent comes to London

With a little over three years to go to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, ParalympicsGB today announced the date and venue of their next Paralympic Potentials Day, designed to identify athletes to represent Great Britain in 2012 and beyond.

Taking place at Brunel University on the 29th September 2009, the day will see attendees put through their paces by top coaches from many of the Paralympic sports to see if they are good enough to be fast tracked onto a sporting pathway.

This will be the seventh such day that ParalympicsGB have run and they are pleased that this time Cadbury, one of the London 2012 partners, are supporting the event. In addition, and for the first time, a talent team from UK Sport will be present on the day to provide targeted talent identification for some sports.

On previous days between 40 and 50% of attendees have been identified as having talent and some of the success stories from those days are now starting to emerge. For example, Judith Hamer attended a talent day Mile End in October 2008 and then went on to represent GB at the 2009 BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester in May.

Phil Lane, CEO of ParalympicsGB said ‘We know that the pathways in Paralympic sport can be shorter than in Olympic sport therefore it’s really not too late for us to be unearthing athletes that may have what it takes to compete in London. There are a lot of medals up for grabs in 2012 and we want to make sure we’ve left no stone unturned in the search for potential Paralympians who can represent Great Britain in 2012 and beyond.’

Penny Briscoe, Performance Director at ParalympicsGB commented ‘The outside world may well perceive Paralympians to be predominantly wheelchair users like Ade Adepitan or amputees like Oscar Pistorius, but we are also looking for people with minimal impairments like a club foot or fused ankles or a low level visual impairment. These people may well be playing a lot of sport already in the able-bodied world and be unaware that they may be eligible to compete in the Paralympics. It will take a lot of talent, dedication and hard work from anyone we find but it’s not too late to be dreaming of London.’